The invention relates to a wheel chock for guiding a hose around a rubber tire of an automobile and the like vehicle.
In many applications involving work on a vehicle with rubber tires, it is necessary for a mechanic or technician to pull a utility hose or cord around the corners of the vehicle. For example, when removing the wheels for tire balancing and the like, an air hose is pulled around the corners of the vehicle. During automobile painting, a similar rubber hose is pulled around the corners of the vehicle. A more common experience for the average automobile owner is pulling a water hose around the corners of the vehicle while washing the car. In all these instances, the hose easily becomes caught in a nip between the rubber tread surface of the tire and the ground. When the hose is caught in the nip, the hose must be pulled back out and pulled in another direction until it can be wrapped around the corners of the vehicle. Normally, once wrapped around the corner, the hose cannot be pulled any further until it is again pulled out of the nip and pulled outwardly and around the vehicle. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to freely pull the hose around the corners of the vehicle while walking around the vehicle. Use of electrical cords around wheeled vehicles involves similar problems.
While wheel chocks having a general wedge shape, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,352 are common for placement behind the front or rear tires of an automobile, they are normally not sufficient nor thought of as hose guides. In most instances, the conventional wheel chock would not serve satisfactorily as a hose guide. The wheel chock shape only partially fits between the tire and the ground and does not completely fill the nip space to prevent a hose from being caught. Another nip is formed by the chock surface and the tire surface so that the hose may be caught in the nip between the chock and the tire. U.S. Pat. No. 1,914,743 discloses automobile blocks which are fastened to a floor of a railroad car in front of and behind the automobile tires to prevent the automobile from moving relative to the floor. The blocks do not provide a wedge in the sense of a wheel chock and would not remain in place to guide a hose or suggest such an expedient. Providing a hose guide in the form of a chock which can be used with various wheel sizes and tire sizes is also a problem to which attention need be given.
A hose guide has been proposed in the form of a stirrup which is designed to rest on the ground and straddle the tire tread. The portion of the tire nip nearest the apex is closed. The stirrup is made of steel and springs inwardly to grip the tire to hold it in place. However, the stirrup strap is easy to dislodge. When pulling a hose in reverse directions around a vehicle, the hose sometimes doubles up and rides upon itself, and then catches in a bind in front of the stirrup.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a hose guide which may be placed in a nip between a tread surface of a tire and the ground to prevent a utility hose or cord from being caught in the nip when pulled around the corners of the vehicle.
Another object of the invention is to provide a hose guide wheel chock which can be chocked behind or in front of the wheel and completely cover a nip space between the wheel and the ground to prevent a hose or cord from being caught when pulled around the vehicle corner.
Another object of the invention is to provide a hose guide wheel chock which fits easily into and out of a wheel between a tire tread surface and the ground completely covering the gap therebetween to prevent a utility hose or cord from being caught between the tire and ground when being pulled around the corner of a vehicle.
Another object of the invention is to provide a hose guide wheel chock which will fit in a nip between the tire and the ground for a variety of tire sizes to prevent a hose or cord from being caught in the nip when being pulled around the vehicle corner.